There are at least a few alternatives to the standard heating, but in a city apartment, heating with air conditioning during the winter is definitely the preferred option, as it is easy to implement, intuitive to operate and more economical than other options.
But what is the most economical heating for an apartment?
No one can guess the exact figures in advance. The cost of electricity depends a lot on the area and volume of the apartment, as well as on a number of other factors such as:
- Which part of the country do you live in?
- What is the exposition of the apartment?
- Are there heated neighbors on all sides or the apartment is outside?
- Is there thermal insulation and is it of sufficient quality?
- Are the window frames well sealed and what kind of glazing is used?
- Are there other appliances in the home that emit heat?
- What temperature do you maintain in the room?
And many others.
One of the most important practical tips to follow when operating an air conditioner is not to turn it off. Do not be afraid – this will not increase your bills, on the contrary. Energy costs are incredibly higher if you turn off the air conditioner at night or when no one is at home. The reason for this is the energy-intensive mode, in which the appliance is forced to work for a long time to reach the set temperature, especially if it is very different from that in the room.
Here we will give you an example of how you can estimate the cost of electricity needed to heat your home, provided you follow the above recommendations.
Among the most important parameters of each air conditioner are its power, energy class and parameter indicating the conversion of electricity into heat (SCOP) as manufacturers already indicate in the passport of appliances the seasonal energy consumption. For the purposes of the calculation, you need to know this value for the model you have chosen. If the air conditioner is properly dimensioned according to the dimensions of the room, we can assume with sufficient accuracy that the consumption for the heating season will be very close to the seasonal energy consumption specified for the appliance.
For example, we will use the SRK / SRC 20 ZSX-S model from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – which is one of the most economical heating air conditioners – with the parameters listed in the following table:
SRK / SRC 20 ZSX-S
Cooling capacity, kW: 2.0 (0.9-3.2)
Heating capacity, kW: 2.7 (0.8-5.3)
Cooling consumption, kW: 0.32
Heating consumption, kW: 0.47
EER / COP: 6.25 / 5.74
SEER / SCOP: 9.50 / 5.20
Energy class: A +++ / A +++
Seasonal energy consumption in heating mode can be removed from the energy label. As Bulgaria belongs to the Temperate climate zone, for this model the value of the indicator is 728 kWh for the whole heating season.
With a current electricity price of BGN 0.15846 / kWh, the calculation for the price of heating with this air conditioner is easy:
728 kWh * 0.15846 BGN / kWh = 115.36 BGN / for the entire heating season.
In this way you can calculate the consumption of all air conditioners in your home and you will get an estimate of how your electricity bills will change if you switch to heating with air conditioning.
You can easily conclude that the higher the SCOP parameter, the lower the current bills. In any case, it is worth giving a little more money to buy an air conditioner with higher parameters, as the difference in price will pay off quickly due to lower bills.
The indicators indicated in the material are indicative and depend on many additional factors specific to each room.
